Spoofing -
Something I encountered after entering the military. It's a game of lots;
something like 'rock-paper-scissors'. I've seen it used many times in my
military career, mostly by shift workers. People working at positions which
require a constant presence. The game is often used to decide who will
go on a soda or snack bar run. It's a game of strategy and odds, a game
of elimination where
the loser is typically tasked to perform an errand for the others.

The Rules - Each participant begins with three coins.
The coins are held behind the participants back. The participant selects
0 - 3 coins and places them in their game hand. That hand is closed into
a
tight
fist (to prevent contestant peeking and coin rattling). The remaining
coins are held in the off hand.

The game hand
is then thrust forward in front of the participant. The off hand remains
behind the back with the unused coins (if any). After each participant
has selected a number of coins, and everyone has their game hand out
front, the guessing commences.

Each participant in turn guesses the total number of coins contained
in the game hands. The first person to go/guess is usually chosen by
rank. RHIP - Rank Has It's Priveleges. The highest ranking person (or
eldest
if
ranks
are
equal)
goes first. After the first round, the person who guessed last in the
previous round goes first.

No one may reuse a number. If one person selects '7' as the total, no
one else may select '7' for that round. After everyone has guessed a
number between zero and the max possible, the coins are revealed.

Everyone opens their game hand, and the coins are totaled. If someone
guessed the correct number of coins, that person is out of the game.
They now wait until, through process of elimination, one person
remains. Snide side-line comments are usually proffered at this point.

The process is repeated, until there is one person left. This may take
a while. Given some skill, deception, and a good poker face, the participants
may continue 'spoofing' for some time. The last person standing is the
'stuckee'; the person who must go on the soda run (sometimes the loser might have to pay for the drinks as well), mop the floor, perform
some errand or undesirable chore.

While the game is typically played to an undesirable end, I have seen
it used to determine who gets to leave early, or determine the particpant
for some other desirable task. In this version, the last person standing
is eliminated completely, and a new round is begun with those who 'spoofed'
out. In this case the game continues until there are two contestants.
The last person to 'spoof out' is the winner. The last person standing
is just another loser.

Military tradition? Like I said earlier. This game
of lots is something I encountered in the military. I've played it at
many bases, but have never encountered it outside of work, unless the
person instigating it was military or former military. It may be that
my exposure was limited to the military participants. My earliest exposure/recollection of Spoofing is appx December of 1987. If you are military
or former military, and you've 'spoofed' before, I'd love to hear about
it. If you're not affiliated with the military, but you've 'spoofed',
I'd appreciate your feedback as well.

Spoofing became something of a competition sport at one of my assignments.
We kept records of who won how many games. There was even a 'Spoof King'
crown. The person with the worst record was humiliated by having to wear
the crown while 'spoofing'.